China's paramilitary police release footage

Sylvester Abbott |Monday, August 19, 2019

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Comedian Bill Bailey witnesses"chaos at Hong Kong airport during the protests on 13 August

The remake, slated for release in 2020, is highly anticipated: Its starry cast includes Donnie Yen, Jet Li and Rosalind Chao, and its director is Niki Caro (WhaleRider), who helmed filming in her home country of New Zealand.

The star of Disney's live-action "Mulan", Liu Yifei came under fire after she posted on Weibo, the Twitter-like Chinese social media site, in support of the Hong Kong police.

Mulan lead actress, Chinese-American Crystal Liu Yifei, on Wednesday shared a graphic from China's state-run newspaper The People's Daily "I support the Hong Kong police, you can beat me", a translation of the graphic said, according to NBC News.

Liu's post had been liked 78,000 times in less than a day from when it was initially shared and retweeted almost 69,000 times.

But on Twitter, which is banned in China, the hashtag #BoycottMulan began gaining traction.

"Actress Liu did nothing wrong for she is defending the integrity of China just like Mulan", argued another supporter. Isn't this the spirit of Mulan?

"There have been exercises in the past, but usually they involve traffic police", she added. A simple recast won't fix this issue.

Her post caused an immediate reaction in Hong Kong, and #BoycottMulan trended on Twitter, as users claimed that the star's posts showed she supported "police brutality and oppression in Hong Kong".

While she was met with relative support for her statements on Weibo and other Chinese celebrities, including Jackie Chan, have voiced similar anti-protest opinions, Liu's comments attracted a particularly focused backlash due to her status as the face of an upcoming Disney blockbuster. "HK doesn't get enough support".

They have also presented the biggest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his seven years in power. Pro-Hong Kong Lennon boards, which offer messages of support in favour of independence, have been repeatedly torn down. "She comes from such a place of entitlement it's not surprising that her closed mind would spew out this trash".

Yesterday, the city braced for more demonstrations through the weekend, with the crisis escalating after pro-democracy protests forced the cancellation of almost 1,000 flights this week and world leaders urging calm.